Climate change touches already every corner of the world and every aspect of people’s lives. As the global temperature increases, its impacts will become even more extreme. The impact of climate change world is already facing food and fuel crises. World Bank and IMF have sounded a larger alarm push 100 million people in low-income countries deeper into poverty. In Bangladesh we are seeing rice-crises firsthand everyday. The long queues on the roadside subsidized rice sale centers are probably an indication of the coming hunger, when 30 million people will face starvation. In Bangladesh natural disasters like SIDR, River Erosion, Drought and Flood mass migration of people from the countryside to the cities. Visions of money, food and a better life, but many of they failed to realize their dreams lured the migrants, and the rural poor became the urban poor. I began to document of marginal condition in my own country. My investigation finally brought me to a climate refugee in Bangladesh.
Nov. 25, 2015 – Dhaka, Bangladesh – Women activists protest demanding elimination of violence against women on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women in front of Central Shaid Minar in Dhaka.Recent global prevalence figures (WHO) indicate that 35% of women worldwide have experienced either intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime. In 2013, the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) with support from UNFPA released a national survey of violence against women that found that 87 percent of ever married women have experienced some form of violence in their lifetime with 77 percent reporting violence in the past 12 months.
“I am eternal, I am deathless. After this body falls, do not think that everything will come to an end. I will live in the hearts of all living beings in my subtle astral form. Whoever will seek my refuge, will always receive my Grace.”
– Baba Lokenth
Lokenath Divine Life Mission seeks a world where individuals are relieved of crippling, self-created illusion of dependence; where individuals are conscious of their inner resources and learn to overcome poverty, to live with dignity and self-reliance.
Baba Lokenath Brahmachari was born in 1730 (the date of Birth is dipped in controversy) in the district of presently Barasat and in the village named Chaurasi Chakla a few miles to the North of the city of Kolkata, India.
At the age of 11, young Lokenath left home with his guru. He visited Kalighat Temple in Kolkata and then lived in the forests for 25 years, selflessly serving his master and practicing the Ashtanga Yoga of Patanjali along with the most difficult Hatha Yoga. After this he travelled to the Himalayas where he meditated in the nude for nearly five decades. Finally, he attained enlightenment at the age of ninety.
After his enlightenment he traveled extensively on foot to Afghanistan, Persia, Arabia and Israel, making three pilgrimages to Mecca. When he came to the small town Baradi near Dhaka, Bangladesh. A wealthy family built him a small hermitage, which became his ashram.There he accepted the sacred thread of the Brahmins and clothed himself in saffron robes. For the rest of his life he performed miracles and gave divine wisdom to all who came to him to seek his blessings. He received the title Baba.
On the 19th day of Jaistha, 1297 (1st June, 1890), Sunday, at 11:45 am, Baba Lokenath was meditating when he went into a trance with his eyes open, and while still in meditation, left his physical body forever. He was aged 160. He had made a promise before his death:
An annual festival in remembrance of Lokenath is held every year by millions of devotees and followers, in many ashrams and in millions of households through worship, keertan, Tasha,food offerings and in many other religious ways on the 19th day of the Hindu month of Jyaishtha.
Every Day Life: A Bangladeshi populer model and actress Mehjabin attend the Prothom Alo 17 anniversary event at the Bangla Academy premises in the Dhaka city on 13 November, 2015. Hundreds of readers on Friday thronged the Bangla Academy premises in Dhaka to take part part in the fanfare of the 17th founding anniversary celebrations of Prothom Alo newspaper.
MONIRUL ALAM 